Apparatus for producing cylinder sleeves



y 1939- A. GANDERSON I 2,156,521

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CYLINDER SLEEVES Filed May 9, 1938 s Sheets-Sheet 1 II f e: r@]:

INVENTOR- Addph G. Andggon y 1939- A. G. ANDERSON 2,156,521

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CYLINDER SLEEVES Filed May 9, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Add h G. Andexson A TZ'ORNE y:

May 2 1939. A. G. ANDERSON APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CYLINDER SLEEVES Filed May 9, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR k G. Andason 5 Mg ETOR/VEYSC Patented May 2, 1939 APPARATUS FOR Pnonucme CYLINDER SLEEVES Adolph G. Anderson, Muskegon MiclL, assignor to Campbell, Wyant & Cannon Foundry Company, Muskegon, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application May 9, 1938, Serial No. 20 6,755

4 Claims.

This invention relates to centrifugal casting, and is primarily concerned with an improvement in apparatus for centrifugally casting tubular sleeves. One place of use of such sleeves is in internal combustion engines in which the quality of the cast metal must be high and of a particularly uniform and homogeneous character and capable of being machined to a relatively thin cross section, and have substantially perfect inner and outer cylindrical surfaces after' machining, as stated in Patent No. 2,107,322 issued February 8, 1938, with reference to which the present invention is an improvement, directed to a method and an apparatus for obtaining an automatic forced circulation of air both through the cast metaltube or sleeve after the molten metal therefor has been poured while the sleeve is rotating, and also for cooling the surrounding mold in which the sleeve is cast.

In the present invention a drawing of air lengthwise of the molten metal which has taken a cylindrical form under centrifugal action is accomplished and a current of air is carried through the sleeve, such current being induced by the r0- tation of the apparatus in which the sleeve is cast, and automatically stopping when the casting has been completed and the sleeve has sufliciently hardened and set that it and the centrifugal machine may be stopped from further rotation. Likewise a current of air is automatically caused by the rotation of the machine aroundthe outer sideof the cylindrical flask which contains the mold, to thereby eliminate high temperatures and reduce the heat and temperature after the molten metal has been poured into the mold and until such time as the apparatus is stopped in its rotation, this being after the sleeve has assumed a solid form.

An understanding of the invention and the method which is followed and the apparatus by means of which said method is performed may be had from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

which: v i

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a machine or apparatus in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical section through the mold carrying or casting end of the machine, and

Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse vertical sections taken substantially on the planes of lines 3-3 and 6-4, respectively, of Figs. 1 and 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawings.

The machine structure shown duplicates in many ways the machine shown in the patent above referred to applied for jointly by myself and another. A supporting frame or casting l is provided at one side of which is a horizontal laterally extending base 2. An electric motor 3 is mounted upon a table 3 above the casting l, the table being carried by a vertical post 5 which extends downwardly into the casting l and has means for vertical adjustment, as fully described the previously referred to patent, for the purpose of tightening the belts I which are placed around a grooved pulley 6 on the motor shaft and a second grooved pulley 8 on the main shaft 9- of the machine. The pulley 6 is shown as a cone pulley and it is evident thatthe shaft 9 may be driven at different speeds with relation to a fixed speed of driving of the motor shaft. A brake indicated at. I0 is associated with the shaft 9 and is tightened by operating cam I l to the left through the horizontal, movement of rod l2 connected to the arm I3 which is pivotally mounted at one end on the casting I and whichrnay be hand operated for braking and stopping the shaft at the end of a casting operation.

The shaft 9, mounted in suitable hearings in the supporting casting l, at the end thereof opposite where the pulley 8 is secured carries a hollow mold receiving housing having a base I4 connected to the shaft 8 and a cylindrical housing 95 projecting therefrom and lying over the table 2 previously referred to. At the open end of the housing a ring I6 is bolted, it having aninner surface of conical form, as shown at H, which tapers inwardly. The shaft 9 is hollow and within it a rod or shaft iii to which is connected, within the cylindrical housing IS, a head l9 having an outwardly extending annular flange with a tapered inner face 2| as shown. Said flange 20 is provided with a plurality of openings 22 therearound, A rod 23 extends axially into the rod or shaft lfl and has a plate 24 secured at its end within the surrounding flange 20 of the head I9. The structure thus described is substantially the same as that shown in Patent No. 2,107,322 and need not be entered into for further detail.

In the length of the housing l5 and at a plurality of relatively ,closely spaced points around it, three series of openings or slots 25, 26 and 21 are cut, the slots 25 being near the open end of the housing, the openings 21 near the rear 'end and in conjunction with the openings 22 of the flange 20 previously described; while the slots 26 are nearer the openings 21 than to the slots 25. An annular outwardly extending rib 28 is integral with and surrounds the. cylindrical housing |5 between the slots 25 and 26. A second annular rib 29 is integral with and surrounds the housing 5 between the slots 26 and the openings 21. A third annular rib 30 is around the inner end of housing IS. A plurality of curved vanes 3| are cast around the housing 5 integral therewith, between the ribs 28 and 29 (Fig. 4) and are shaped so as to pocket and retain air ahead of the direction of movement of the vanes. Like vanes 32 of like form and spaced apart in like manner are located between the ribs 29 and 30.

A cylindrical enclosing cover 33 is located around and spaced from the housing 5, being connected at one end, by means of a surrounding ring 34 attached thereto, tov the casting support I, and at its opposite end by a similar ring 35 to a ringlike support 36, the lower portion of which rests upon the table 2. The closure members indicated at 31 and 38 and the parts associated therewith are identical with like structure shown in said previously referred to patent and the construction and use thereof need not be repeated herein in detail.

Substantially midway between the ends of the enclosing shell 33 a continuous annular inwardly extending rib 39 is provided, the inner edges of which are directly opposite and close to the outer edges of the rib 28, so that the ribs 28 and 39 divide the enclosed space between the surrounding housing 33 and the rotating housing l5 substantially into two chambers. The chamber between the rib 39 and the adjacent side of the supporting casting I has an outlet 33a (Fig. 4) through which air pocketed and carried ahead of the vanes 3| is forced outward, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4, while the chamber at the opposite side of the ribs 39 and 28 has an inlet for air 33b (Fig. 3) into which air passes in the direction indicated to resupply that which is projected outwardly through the outlet at 33a. Such air entering the chamber to the left of the ribs 39 and 28 (Fig. 2) is drawn through the slots at 25 and thence passes through the slots at 2.6 to in front of the curved vanes 3|, said vanes 3l inducing a strong circulation of air as is evident.

A cylindrical flask 40 of sheet metal is provided with discs 4| and 42 at opposite ends having inclined peripheral edge surfaces which engage the inclines at I! and 2| of the ring l6 and the flange 20 when the closure at the openend of the housing is secured in closed position. A green sand mold 43 is formed within the flask, having an axial opening 44 at its inner end. A sand core 45 of disc-shape with a central opening 46 therein is located against the front end of the mold. The disc 24 is provided with spaced radial ribs 24a bearing against the member 4| and the mold, leaving passages for air which enters at the front through the opening 46, passing outwardly through the opening at 44, and then through the passages between the ribs 24a and thence outwardly through the openings 22 and 21 to the vanes 32, which like the vanes 3|, create a suction and project air outwardly through the outlet at In the method which is pursued with the apparatus described to cast a cylindrical sleeve, the

motor 3 is started in operation, a mold 43 within flask-.40 having been placed within the cylindrical shell l5, and the molten iron at approxima'tel'y 2700 F. is poured through the opening 46 into the mold in a measured amount while the mold is rotating at approximately 400 R. P. M. The rotation progressively increases in speed until at its maximum the shaft 9 and the mold with the molten iron therein is turning at approximately 1500 R. P. M. Air is drawn through the 5 inlet at 33b, passes through the slots at 25 and out at the slots at 26 and, through the action of the vanes 3| is projected outwardly at the outlet 33a. Air is also drawn through the opening 45, lengthwise of the molten metal which lines the 10 inner sides of the mold 43 through centrifugal action, and thence passes through the several openings 44, 22 and 21 to the vanes 32, and is projected outward at the outlet 33a, providing a continuous circulation of air which serves to cool the 15 outside of the flask 40 and also cool the casting 41, which is produced within the mold, at its inner sides.

The forced air circulation which is caused by the curved vanes 3| and 32 and by the inwardly 20 extending annular rib 39 which, with the rib 29, provides a substantially solid partition dividing the chamber in which the curved vanes 3| and 32 are located from the chamber into which air enters through the inlet 33b, effects the cooling of 25 the mold and the casting and, together with the increased and forced circulation of air lengthwise through the sleeve casting, causes the casting when completed to be of a proper texture and hardness and has resulted in eliminating hard 30 spots previously appearing in the casting. Such hard spots may be due possibly to a chemical combination of iron and carbon to make an iron carbide at certain favorable spots in the casting for such iron carbide formation, which hard spots 35 are eliminated by the described structure and method of forced air circulation of the present invention. Any theory which may be advanced for the desirable result of eliminating the hard spots which have previously been produced with a structure identical to that shown in the Patent No. 2,107,322 may be subject to question, and I do not set forth any particular theory of action, but state that the result has been that a much better and more homogeneous type of sleeve casting is produced and that previous hard spots appearing in the completed casting have been eliminated. The invention has proved very practical, satisfactory and useful.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y

I claim: I

1. In a machine of the class described, a rotating cylindrical housing adapted to receive an elongated cylindrical flask therein, said housing 55 having an outwardly extending annular rib between its ends and being slotted at each side of the rib, a cylindrical covering surrounding the jacent slots through said housing being between said vanes, as and for the purposes specified.

2. In a machine of the class described, a rotating cylindrical housing adapted to receive an elongated cylindrical flask therein, a cylindrical covering enclosing said housing, means on said housing and covering dividing the space between them into two chambers, the cylindrical covering having an air inlet into one of said compartments II and an air outlet leading from the other, said housing having slots connecting said chambers with the space between the inside of the housing and the flask, and means on and movable with the housing for creating a continuous draft of air drawn into said inlet into one chamber, thence through slots in the housing into the space between said housing and flask, andthence out through slots in the housing into the other chamber and projected outwardly through said outlet.

3. In a machine of the class described, a rotating cylindrical housing, an elongated cylindrical flask mounted in said housing and having its outer sides spaced from the inner sides of the housing, a surrounding cylindrical cover around and spaced from the housing, ribs on the housing and cover dividing the space between them into two chambers, there being slots through the housing connecting each compartment with the space between the housing and the flask, anair inlet through said cylindrical cover to one of said chambers, an air outlet in said covering communicating with the second chamber, additional ribs on said housing located Within said second chamber, said additional ribsbeing spaced from the first mentioned rib on the housing and also spaced from each other, curved air pocketing vanes around, said housing and integral therewith and with said ribs, said vanes being spaced apart from each other and adapted to pocket air and project it outwardly through said outlet, and communicating passages through said housing between the vanes for the passage of air a! and the outside of said flask and longitudinally through said flask and a mold therein, whereby air is drawn by said vanes around the flask and through the mold in said flask and forced outwardly through said outlet;

4. In a machine of the class described, a horizontally positioned cylindrical housing mounted for rotation, an elongated cylindrical flask therein spaced from the mold at its sides, a cylindrical mold within said flask, there being a continuous longitudinal central opening through said mold, a surrounding cylindrical covering around said housing, means dividing the. space between said covering and housing into two compartments, said housing having spaced slots around the same connecting said compartments with the space between the housing and flask, and said covering having an air inlet to one of said compartments, and means mounted on said housing and rotatable therewith for drawing air from the first compartment through the slots in the housing connecting it with the interior of the housing and thence outwardly through the slots connecting said interior of the housing with said second compartment and forcing it through said outlet, and means for also simultaneously drawing air lengthwise through said mold and through a cylindrical casting cast therein into said second compartment and projecting itoutwardlythrough said outlet.

ADOLPI-I G. ANDERSON 

